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- Soaring Valor transported more than 1,500 WWII veterans to New Orleans over ten years.
- American Airlines, Gary Sinise Foundation and the museum organized flights and ceremonies.
- Program paired veterans with high school students to record stories and teach service.
As a youth, Vic St. Pierre always had a passion for travel while growing up in Central Falls, Rhode Island. It’s the reason he left the close-knit mill town and joined the Marines at age 17.
“My school chum’s brother was in the Marines, and he would come home in uniform and tell us stories about all the different places he had been,” the 99-year-old Charlotte resident said. “And that’s when I made up my mind because I loved to travel.”
He trained with the Marines at Parris Island, where discipline, obedience and marksmanship were drilled into young people preparing to face World War II battlefields.
For his service, St. Pierre was one of more than 1,500 veterans over the past decade who were honored with a free flight from Charlotte to see the National WWII Museum in New Orleans through a program called Soaring Valor.
The national initiative — created by American Airlines, the Gary Sinise Foundation and the National WWII Museum — hosted its final flight out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport earlier this fall. The flights operated out of a number of airports around the country; Charlotte’s flight happened to be the last one.
World War II veterans gather at Charlotte Douglas Airport for Soaring Valor, a national initiative to provide flights to veterans to visit the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. American Airlines
“American Airlines has the honor of hosting these veterans in our airports and aboard our aircraft for their journey to New Orleans,” said Randall Stillinger, who oversees American’s Military and Veterans programs for the airline. “We ensure that their experience at the airport is quick and seamless, but it’s also a fitting tribute to those who serve.”
Soaring Valor welcomed veterans with a hero’s parade through the terminal, complete with passengers waving flags.
“You can’t experience something like this without feeling a sense of pride and patriotism, but also a sense of sadness as this generation ages well into their hundreds,” Stillinger said.
Soaring Valor brought veterans from all over the country to the museum since 2015.
“It was great,” said St. Pierre, who also served in the Korean War and Vietnam. “And I was surprised at all the stuff they had there at the museum, because I didn’t think there would be that much there.”
The airline operated more than 30 flights to New Orleans. With crew members volunteering their service, ground teams transformed every send-off and arrival into a celebration of appreciation. The veterans were paired with high school students to form intergenerational connections, according to American Airlines.
“When we got off the plane, there were all kinds of people greeting us, waving flags,” St. Pierre said. “I was amazed.”
Charlotte veteran Vic St. Pierre, 99, served in the U.S. Marines from 1944 to 1970 Chase Jordan [email protected]
Gary Sinise’s mission to support veterans
Award-winning actor Gary Sinise started his foundation after the 9/11 attacks. He’s best known for roles in “CSI: NY”, “Apollo 13” and as wounded Vietnam veteran Lt. Dan in “Forrest Gump,” which earned him an Oscar nomination.
Sinise has many veterans in his family and has supported them going back to the 1970s, even before establishing the foundation with its broad mission. He also has supported soldiers in war zones and hospitals, veterans and first responders with handshake tours and concert performances with his band, the Lt. Dan Band.
The foundation builds homes for seriously injured veterans; supports families of those who have died in service; advances mental health initiatives; and works on the Soaring Valor program, among other initiatives.
In an interview with The Charlotte Observer, Sinise said that Soaring Valor grew out of his relationship with the WWII museum and his desire to preserve veterans’ stories like those of his Uncle Jack, a B-17 bomber crew member. The museum recorded Jack talking about the war. After he died in 2014, Sinise requested the video and was moved by it.
“And I thought, I’m very lucky to have a video of my uncle talking about his war years,” Sinise said. “Every family of a World War II veteran deserves to have something like this.”
That moment led to Sinise and his foundation, working with the museum, to fund historians to find veterans and record their stories. He later connected with American Airlines to bring as many veterans as possible to the museum for the Soaring Valor program.
Actor Gary Sinise created the Gary Sinise Foundation to serve veterans and first responders after 9/11. Theo Wargo Getty Images for Capital Concert
Education and lasting legacies
High school students from around the country came onboard Soaring Valor flights in 2017, so they could learn firsthand from people who lived and fought in the war. St. Pierre was paired with Mary Stanton Bryant, a senior from Ambassador Christian School in Huntersville.
“I’ve grown up in a military household and have always been taught the importance of respecting our veterans,” she said. “But this trip gave me a whole new perspective and made me understand why they’re called our nation’s greatest heroes.”
Huntersville student Mary Stanton Bryant escorts Charlotte veteran Vic St. Pierre during a Soaring Valor trip hosted by American Airlines, the Gary Sinise Foundation and the National WWII Museum. Chase Jordan [email protected]
That’s the kind of resonance Sinise was looking for with the program. “I hope that each one of the students that went through the program holds those memories of traveling with those World War II veterans close to their hearts, always,” he said.
Sinise also pointed out how many of the veterans were not much older than the students during their own service.
“And these kids are looking at them thinking, gosh, they were my age when they went to war. I know that that had a profound impact,” he said.
Education remains a big part of his foundation’s mission.
“I think it’s very, very important that young students really understand what it takes to keep us free, and that people have to sacrifice for that,” he added. “Many sacrifices have been made over many years and generations. I don’t think we can ever thank the men and women who serve our country enough for what they do to provide freedom for us.”
When Soaring Valor started, participants were in their late 80s and early 90s. The youngest are now approaching 100
World War II veterans travel through Charlotte Douglas Airport for the Soaring Valor program. The national initiative by American Airlines, the Gary Sinise Foundation and the National WWII Museum hosted the last flight in Charlotte. American Airlines
Sinise took about 15 flights with the veterans and heard a lot of stories. One that came to mind was about a veteran who was a liberator of the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany, who later encountered a survivor at a grocery store in the U.S.
Sinise called it a divine moment.
“He looked down at her wrist and there was a tattooed number… She told him that she was at Buchenwald as a young kid, and he said, ‘I was part of the liberating force at Buchenwald.’ Can you imagine that — what that must have been like for him and her to meet each other after all these years?”
That was just one of many collective memories veterans carried with them after retiring from service.
St. Pierre had several duties in the military, but his best memory was serving as a drill instructor. “The thing I’m most proud of is taking care of my Marines,” he said about training soldiers to become riflemen.
He was also grateful for the Soaring Valor program. “I was surprised about how many people volunteered to do this thing,” St. Pierre said. “They were fantastic.”
Team members and volunteers line up for the sendoff at PHX. American Airlines
Continuing the mission
Although large charter trips through Soaring Valor have ended, Sinise’s foundation is still helping coordinate individual visits to the museum. For more information, visit www.garysinisefoundation.org.
Jeff St. Pierre escorts his father Vic St. Pierre during a trip from Charlotte to New Orleans to visit the the National WWII Museum. Jeff St. Pierre
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Chase Jordan
The Charlotte Observer
Chase Jordan is a business reporter for The Charlotte Observer, and has nearly a decade of experience covering news in North Carolina. Prior to joining the Observer, he was a growth and development reporter for the Wilmington StarNews. The Kansas City native is a graduate of Bethune-Cookman University.
